Net Neutrality Strengthens Monopolies, Invites Corruption

angelatc

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https://mises.org/blog/net-neutrality-strengthens-monopolies-invites-corruption

When it imposed its net neutrality rules on the telecom industry, the FCC was fixing a problem that didn't exist.

While proponents of Net Neutrality have long claimed that the regulations are necessary to impose fairness for internet usage, access to the internet has only become more widespread and service today is far faster for users — including “ordinary” people — than it was twenty years ago.

Nevertheless, when the FCC in recent months — now under pressure from the Trump Administration — announced that it may step back from net neutrality, supporters immediately began claiming that net neutrality was necessary to keep internet access affordable and "fair."

In truth, net neutrality has never fostered fairness or better access for consumers, and has instead created conditions that will encourage less competition and more monopolistic power for large firms within the industry.

Instead of relying on the market place to allocate goods, net neutrality ensures that politics will determine who gets what, instead. This is hardly a recipe for fairness or neutrality.

In the marketplace, goods and services tend to be allocated according to those who demand the goods the most. Where demand is highest, prices are highest.

In some cases, this will mean that some customers will be able to pay for faster internet service than others.

But, the existence of some "luxury" types of internet service do not interfere with the existence of lower-priced services, just as the existence of luxury cars do not prevent the manufacture of economy cars.

More here. And Amen.
 
net neu·tral·i·ty
noun
noun: net neutrality; noun: network neutrality

the principle that Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites.

Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers and governments regulating the Internet must treat all data on the Internet the same, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or mode of communication.

Definition of Net Neutrality

Simply put, net neutrality is a network design paradigm that argues for broadband network providers to be completely detached from what information is sent over their networks. In essence, it argues that no bit of information should be prioritized over another. This principle implies that an information network such as the internet is most efficient and useful to the public when it is less focused on a particular audience and instead attentive to multiple users.

Net Neutrality is the principle that data packets on the Internet should be moved impartially, without regard to content, destination or source. The Net Neutrality principle holds that wired and wireless internet service is a utility like gas, water, electricity and landline phone service; it should be available to everyone and subject to government regulation.

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Net Neutrality debate

In the United States, internet service providers (ISPs) and Net Neutrality proponents disagree about whether broadband internet is an opt-in service or a necessary utility. If the internet is a utility, it must be licensed by a government agency and customer data can not be sold. When the telephone reached utility status, the Communications Act of 1934 established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and granted the new government agency the power to regulate telephone service providers as common carriers.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 exempted the emerging internet from common carrier regulation but in 2010, the FCC ruled that U.S. internet broadband providers should be held to the same regulations as telecom carriers. The ruling, which was enacted during the Obama administration, essentially classified broadband internet as a utility, subject to government regulation under the FCC. In 2014, a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the FCC did not have the authority to extend common carrier rules to ISPs. The FCC, however, claimed its legal authority to do so was grandfathered under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934.

In June 2016, a U.S. federal court upheld the FCC's ruling and ability to prohibit broadband internet providers from slowing or blocking internet content delivery to consumers. The ruling also prohibited broadband providers from prioritizing traffic from edge providers who are willing to pay higher fees for faster delivery, a practice known as zero rating.

ISPs including AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner and Verizon favor a two-tiered internet service model that permits zero rating and allows them to charge a premium fee for priority placement and faster speed across their carrier network pipes. They maintain that government legislation of the internet is an unnecessary barrier to innovation and economic growth.

Proponents of a two-tiered model point out that the model already exists because consumers already have a choice of using a slower dial-up internet service or paying a premium price for faster speed over broadband (coaxial cable, DSL or fiber optic services). They also point out that ISPs already prioritize some traffic over other traffic to maintain quality of service (QoS).

In May 2017, under the Trump administration, the FCC voted to review previous rulings. Advocates of reversing Net Neutrality are hopeful that the question of Net Neutrality will become moot and the FCC will allow the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to regulate the internet on a case-by-case basis, using current laws already in place to protect consumers.
 
That Jamesiv1 is funny guy!



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